Russian President Vladimir Putin sits before speaking at the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters on Sept. 28, 2015 in New York City.(Photo: Spencer Platt, Getty Images)
Russia<span style="color: Red;">*</span>launched its first airstrike<span style="color: Red;">*</span>in Syria on Wednesday, a U.S<span style="color: Red;">*</span>official confirmed to USA TODAY.
The news of the strike, around the city of Homs, came after Russia's parliament granted<span style="color: Red;">*</span>President<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Vladimir Putin<span style="color: Red;">*</span>permission to launch airstrikes against the Islamic State<span style="color: Red;">*</span>in Syria,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>where a civil war has been raging since 2011.
Speaking at a government meeting Wednesday, Putin said the only way to fight terrorists there<span style="color: Red;">*</span>is to act preemptively, Reuters reported.
He said Russia's military involvement would be temporary, and it is still possible and necessary to “unite international efforts to take on Islamist militants in Syria,”the news agency reported.
Sergey Ivanov, the Kremlin's<span style="color: Red;">*</span>chief of staff,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>told journalists that Putin was granted permission to use armed forces outside the country by<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the Federation Council — the upper house of the Russian parliament — the TASS news agency reported.
However, Ivanov said Russia<span style="color: Red;">*</span>will only use its air force Syria.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Russian presidential aide Vladimir Kozhin later told reporters that Russia will supply “all the necessary<span style="color: Red;">*</span>armaments” to Syria, TASS reported.
Ivanov said the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Federation Council "unanimously supported the president’s request" to use Russian forces in Syria, according to TASS. He<span style="color: Red;">*</span>added that<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Syrian<span style="color: Red;">*</span>President Bashar Assad had asked Russia<span style="color: Red;">*</span>to provide military assistance. He<span style="color: Red;">*</span>said that the number of Russians joining the extremist group, also known as ISIL or ISIS, is growing.
"The operation’s military goal is exclusively air support of the Syrian armed forces in their fight against ISIL," he said, according to TASS.
"We are not pursing any foreign political goals or ambitions, of which we have been regularly accused. The point is just to defend Russia’s national interests."
On Tuesday, Putin said his country was<span style="color: Red;">*</span>considering whether to carry out airstrikes against the ISIL<span style="color: Red;">*</span>in Syria,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>where the U.S. and its allies are conducting a bombing campaign against the militant organization. His remarks came after a<span style="color: Red;">*</span>meeting with President Obama at the U.N. General Assembly in New York.
According to the Russian constitution, Putin has to request parliamentary approval for the use of Russian troops abroad. The last time he did so was before Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in March 2014.
Prosecutors in Paris on Wednesday opened a preliminary investigation into allegations by the French government of crimes against humanity committed by the Assad regime. The probe<span style="color: Red;">*</span>focuses on atrocities allegedly committed between 2011 and 2013 and is based on photos of mutilated corpses, the Paris prosecutor’s statement said.
President Francois Hollande announced Sunday that France<span style="color: Red;">*</span>launched its first airstrikes against ISIL<span style="color: Red;">*</span>positions in Syria, destroying one of the group’s training camps in a bombing raid.
USA TODAY
French warplanes "totally destroyed" Islamic State camp in Syria.
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